Words: 72
Average Length: 5.25
This puzzle had several seeds: 23 Across (I’d recently listened to CSNY’s “Almost Cut My Hair”), 4 Down (I’d recently listened to Men at Work’s “Down Under”), and 55 Across, a term I learned not from a song – though it would make for an interesting lyric – but from a police officer/driver ed instructor. (No, I was not in “traffic school!”)
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.25
Note – due to my oft-demonstrated inability to include accurate cross-references, please note that the proper cross-reference in the clue for 60 Across should be 6 Across, not 2 Across
I think a lot about interconnectedness – my 66-year-old brain often acts like it’s still back in a late-night dorm room discussion – which led directly to the three seed answers (the grid-spanners). I’ll leave you with this link to 15 Across (one of my favorite early Dylan songs) and with a plea not to think me too delusional once you see the clue for 55 Down.
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.34
The three longest answers were the seeds. Each of them found a home here after failing to fit well in a couple of themed puzzles that just didn’t pan out.
Here’s a bonus hint for 20 Across: two of my favorite songs of theirs are covers: Friend of the Devil and Big Yellow Taxi. Favorite originals: Rain King, Hard Candy, Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby (which has one of my favorite lines: “If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts”).
Words: 68
Average Length: 5.56
I had lots of fun cluing this one (favorite clue: 32 Across; I’m also partial to 2 Down and 3 Down). The seeds were the two long down answers, though I’ve wanted to include 20 Across and 24 Across in a puzzle for a while. Please enjoy!
Words: 73 (16×15)
Average Length: 5.59
I’m trying something different with this write-up because it’s a rainy Saturday afternoon and constructing complete sentences seems like a lot of effort at the moment.
Favorite clues: 25A, 61A
Favorite fill: 10A
Least favorite fill: 4D. I spent a lot of time looking for alternatives, alas to no avail.
Recommendation: 41A – if you like dark, darkly humorous crime fiction, check out the Ian Rankin books mentioned in the clue.
Favorite trivia: 51A
I’m really happy with the architecture on this one: only 29 blocks and 6 three-letter answers, with wide-open corners and lots of flow. Oh, and an opportunity to include one of my favorite Jackson Browne songs (55 Across) and historical fiction authors (30 Across). Throw in a crispy applesauce delivery device (40 Down) and a mecca for great bagels (38 Across) and you’ve got yourself a grid.
Words: 14
Average Length: 5.29
In the immortal words of President Carter, today’s effort to merge poetry and crossword construction is an “incomplete success.” With recent minis touching on haiku (5-7-5×5) and couplets (Iamb Gridding), I decided to tackle a longer form, known for its 14-line structure, iambic pentameter, and specific rhyme scheme. The goals: (1) construct a grid with the poetic form at 1 Across (check!), (2) make the clues fit the relevant poetic form (check!), (3) have the clues, when read top to bottom, make sense as this particular poetic form (buzz!!!). Alas, they don’t. I spent far too long trying to come up with fill that could be clued as a cohesive verse before deciding that I had better things to do, like sleep. The result isn’t what I’d hoped for, but I think it should still be a fun solve.
Just for yuks (or more likely, yucks), here’s the complete “1 Across”:
Will Shakespeare penned one hundred fifty-four
With learned talent, showing mast’ry true.
A three-D model, making one’s a chore
A doctor who takes care of teeth for you.
It’s shouted in La Liga on TV
Consumed, devoured, scarfed, or nommed it all
A Spanish word whose meaning is to be
An org that fights abuse of alcohol.
The dog who is the butt of Garfield’s jokes
A glowing substance in a retail sign
A bag you get for funding Terry Gross
A store that sells its merchandise on-line.
They’re caps that Scottish men often display
A common one: a pitcher’s E.R.A..
I think this one should play a bit gentler than most of my themeless puzzles. I’ll leave you with two gorgeous recordings of 47 Down, which is one of my favorite Beatles songs, early or late. (1) The original. (2) Cover version by Emmylou Harris:
Words: 68
Average Length: 5.53
The two grid-spanners were the seeds for this themeless, and once I had them in place I decided to design a grid with minimal 3-letter answers (only four, in this case). For solving accompaniment, here’s a link to the late, great Warren Zevon performing “Werewolves of London” (see the clue for 22 Across).
Jeff's Puzzles